The druid (well, the old man who was playing the role of the druid) had a long white, wise beard, was wearing a pale tunic and had a feather on his hat. Unfortunately the tunic was a bit too short for him, covering his legs only until the knees.. and like all druids of ancient time, he was wearing jeans underneath!!
Number of alarm clocks that went on in order to wake us up for the greeting to the sun: 5. And all were regularly switched off.
There is a board on one of the gates that asks to those who are entering the stone circle for respect and devotion. The area is considered sacred.
What baffled me were the two roads which crisscross the henge.
Someone has to explain to me what kind of form of respect those roads represent..
The stone circle at Avebury is part of the UNESCO World Heritage.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
"Happy Summer Solstice sister.." Avebury 5am 21.06.09
It was a last minute decision. I was meant to go to work on Saturday morning. I called in sick instead and joined my flatmate on his trip to Avebury, a small countryside village in the county of Wiltshire.
Avebury does not count more than few hundreds inhabitants. There is a pretty Norman church, a school and a pub, stretched along the main road. The horizon is made of fields and scattered trees here and there.
What made me travel to Avebury? Its amazing stone circle and those pagan rituals of the summer solstice. And the need for a change of scenery, even just for one night.
Being an improvised decision, I spent the day trying to get ready for it. With no planning ahead, I did not have much of an idea of what I was meant to bring with me.
Tent, sleeping bag, food, drinks, toothbrush, warm clothes&socks, wellies (you never know, it may rain!).. what else.. yes paracetamol!! There is always the chance of a headache, especially when you have been drinking all night long, waiting for the dawn! Ok, I was sorted, at least with what i considered the essential to my survival.
We hit the road mid afternoon that same day. Once the tent was up in the campsite, we went to the pub were I met some of my flatmate’s friends. All around us there were drums and guitars playing, voices singing (some of them already quite drunk), people dancing and waiting for the sunset, when the first ritual took place.
We all gathered around one of the inner circles of the henge. Masks, fire, music, dances and dancers performed the circle of life. As the darkness fell over Avebury and the stone circle, the light of the fires gave us a taste of antiquity and primitive age.
And then we waited for the dawn. It has been a long, cold, damp, drunk, funny night.
4.55 am: back to the stone circle. We all waited for the sunrise.. but no sun popped out from the cloudy morning. The druid greeted anyways the dawn and the four elements, thanking them for having been benevolent and asking them to come back to us so that we could live.
We were all in a circle, turning our backs facing the cardinal points four times, one for each element.
While walking along the henge and passing by those huge rocks, I considered how pagan rituals have been long discredited and set aside in order to let various Gods lead the way. Water, air, earth and fire are probably all we need to survive. Without them there would be no life and we would not be here.
May be those are the only gods we should worship.
Avebury does not count more than few hundreds inhabitants. There is a pretty Norman church, a school and a pub, stretched along the main road. The horizon is made of fields and scattered trees here and there.
What made me travel to Avebury? Its amazing stone circle and those pagan rituals of the summer solstice. And the need for a change of scenery, even just for one night.
Being an improvised decision, I spent the day trying to get ready for it. With no planning ahead, I did not have much of an idea of what I was meant to bring with me.
Tent, sleeping bag, food, drinks, toothbrush, warm clothes&socks, wellies (you never know, it may rain!).. what else.. yes paracetamol!! There is always the chance of a headache, especially when you have been drinking all night long, waiting for the dawn! Ok, I was sorted, at least with what i considered the essential to my survival.
We hit the road mid afternoon that same day. Once the tent was up in the campsite, we went to the pub were I met some of my flatmate’s friends. All around us there were drums and guitars playing, voices singing (some of them already quite drunk), people dancing and waiting for the sunset, when the first ritual took place.
We all gathered around one of the inner circles of the henge. Masks, fire, music, dances and dancers performed the circle of life. As the darkness fell over Avebury and the stone circle, the light of the fires gave us a taste of antiquity and primitive age.
And then we waited for the dawn. It has been a long, cold, damp, drunk, funny night.
4.55 am: back to the stone circle. We all waited for the sunrise.. but no sun popped out from the cloudy morning. The druid greeted anyways the dawn and the four elements, thanking them for having been benevolent and asking them to come back to us so that we could live.
We were all in a circle, turning our backs facing the cardinal points four times, one for each element.
While walking along the henge and passing by those huge rocks, I considered how pagan rituals have been long discredited and set aside in order to let various Gods lead the way. Water, air, earth and fire are probably all we need to survive. Without them there would be no life and we would not be here.
May be those are the only gods we should worship.
Sunday, 14 June 2009
On hold
That’s probably the best way of describing how I feel.
On hold and restless.
I spent some time in the back garden this afternoon. Sunbathing helps me relaxing. Not today though. My brain does not want to switch off.
There is a lot of pressure around me, haunting me day and night. I cannot sleep more that 6 hours per night, it does not matter how tired I may be.
There is a lot of disappointment too. I am disappointed with myself and with quite a few things that happened in the past weeks.
The only thing I am sure about is that I need to start all over again.I need changes, better if drastic. I need a different life from the one I am living now.
On hold and restless.
I spent some time in the back garden this afternoon. Sunbathing helps me relaxing. Not today though. My brain does not want to switch off.
There is a lot of pressure around me, haunting me day and night. I cannot sleep more that 6 hours per night, it does not matter how tired I may be.
There is a lot of disappointment too. I am disappointed with myself and with quite a few things that happened in the past weeks.
The only thing I am sure about is that I need to start all over again.I need changes, better if drastic. I need a different life from the one I am living now.
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